City of Midland Aquatics President/Executive Director Brad Swendig, left, and longtime COM supporter Charles Koch at the presentation, which inducted COM Aquatics into the Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame in Austin on April 8. Courtesy photo less

City of Midland Aquatics President/Executive Director Brad Swendig, left, and longtime COM supporter Charles Koch at the presentation, which inducted COM Aquatics into the Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame ... more

COM Aquatics gets Hall of Fame induction honor

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Last weekend was an awe-inspiring experience for Brad Swendig, City of Midland Aquatics executive director/president, at the University of Texas at Austin.

Swendig’s beloved COM Aquatics was being inducted into the Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame, as the 2017 recipient of the Wally Pryor Distinguished Team Award.

COM Aquatics joined Olympic gold medalist Ian Crocker, former Olympic diver and national team coach Ken Armstrong, Olympic bronze medalist Jim Henry, current 200 backstroke world record holder Aaron Peirsol and longtime swimming official Dee Hollar among the Class of 2017 inductees.

The weekend was a thrilling time for Swendig, who began his affiliation with COM Aquatics as a youth swimmer in 1972.

“There were a lot of gold medals sitting there in that room, it was pretty cool,” said Swendig, who attended the ceremony with longtime COM Aquatics supporter Charles Koch.

“It’s pretty amazing, the number of the Olympians, the number of world records, it’s impressive,” Swendig added.

The induction demonstrated the imprint on swimming and diving that COM Aquatics has made since its inception in 1967.

COM has produced five national champions in swimming and diving, has built world class facilities that are the envy of many larger metropolitan areas and has hosted noteworthy events such as the United States Diving National Championships in 1995 and the Diving U.S. Open in 2005.

COM was established among humble beginnings in 1967. COM had only 20 swimmers, no coach, no pool and three members on its board of directors when a group of parents wanted to expand its Midland ISD and YMCA swimming programs into a much larger scale club program.

Despite its humble origins, COM Aquatics always had grandiose visions from the beginning.

From day one, the goal for the club was to become the Green Bay Packers of swimming, during a time when head coach Vince Lombardi’s franchise was a dynasty in professional football.

That desire to be the best was reflected when the club hired Terry Gathercole, a former Olympic swimmer and then coach of the Australian Olympic women’s swimming team, to be coach in 1967.

Gathercole even got assistance from U.S. Attorney General Bobby Kennedy to help enter the country with his family in 1968.

“They needed somebody that could come here and do the job here in a big way,” Swendig said.

“They got the best coach in the world,” Swendig added.

Following Gathercole’s five-year stint with COM, the club made another home run hire when it lured George French to the Tall City in 1973. French was known in the swimming world for coaching John Naber, who claimed four gold medals at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

After a standout collegiate swimming career at Texas A&M and Auburn, Swendig was hired as a COM swim coach in 1984, and has been with the club ever since.

Swendig said the club has doubled in size every seven years since its inception.

In 1993, the Abell Hanger Pool opened, which is known for its Olympic diving apparatus.

COM expanded by opening up the Greathouse Aquatic and Rehabilitation Center in 2000, which consists of pools used for water aerobics and water therapy. COM’s latest grand addition is the FMH Foundation Natatorium that launched in 2016 and is known for its Olympic-sized swimming pool.

The Olympic-sized pool helped COM land the United States Swimming Southern Zones event in 2018.

Swendig said the Tall City’s benevolent community deserves the credit for providing kids world class swimming and diving facilities.

“There’s a huge support for swimming and diving in Midland, Texas,” Swendig said. “Living in Midland, Texas, it gives you some opportunities that are you’re not going to find in any city in the United States. We are the beneficiaries of a very generous community and a community that cares about its kids.

“You look at the people that have involved that have been at COM, there are a lot of inspirational people and hard working people that have set high goals for COM,” Swendig added. “They are visionaries that really make COM unique, not only in Midland, but in the United States.”